If you venture down to Campbelltown on the Scottish west coast the locals have a distinct Nordie lilt.

Who are you calling confrontational ya fuckin Irish poof, you wouldn't dare say that to my face.

And you're the mild mannered sensible one...

I used to go out with a girl from ballycastle for a short time when I was in college, and she was a lovely girl, but I could hardly understand a word that came out of her mouth. The links between ulster and scotland have always been stronger than the links between ulster and the rest of the country.

Good move for Rodgers, avoiding any damage from the second year blues that seem to beset many promoted teams who do well first season back.

I am assuming Liverpool are still looking for a driector of football, as it seems a stretch to have someone like Rodgers suddenly doing 30 million quid transfers after being a bargain basement scourer.

Next season: bottom half of the table.

Assuming there has been no tapping up, how can Liverpool decide that this is the guy after one interview. People spend more time trying to choose a DVD to rent than Liverpool spent interviewing this guy. You're telling me they couldn't go out and get a more proven manager in Germany, Italy, Russia (including an Italian in Russia like Spalletti), Spain? This mess is turning into a disaster.

Who says they could find a more proven diamond in the rough anyway?

Their original managerial list with guys like Klopp was a joke. Klopp would rather lose a bollock than take that job.

The Awesome Berbaslug!!! wrote:


Morning all, hey.

I was explaining the amortisation concept usually, but you just wouldn't listen. Your two mates were cute though, the small shy one and the big-haired lad with glases. I'll see if cousin Brendan can sort them some tickets.

Carnlough's on the east Coast, near Larne actually. My granny lived on a farm in the next village.

The biggest single obstacle that Rogers faces in re-inventing Liverpool's style of play is Mr Gerrard.

Stevie G at his peak was the perfect player for a counterist like Benitez (and you can see why Mourinho was so keen to get his hands on him). But he's a nightmare for a possessionista like Rogers.

Picture it. Pass-pass-pass-pass-pass-pass...Gerrard receives ball....50 yard Roy of the Rovers through ball which Carroll nods on to no one....start again.

Brendan might be praying that Stevie's injuries become more frequent and that he can bring back Joe Cole and turn Henderson into a footballer. Adam might well get a second chance.

Someone upthread claimed that Swansea lack pace.
Has that person seen Dyer and Scott Sinclair play?

How do we know he will seek to emulate his possession style game at Liverpool though? I would be very surprised if he did.



Pace with their build up, pace in transferance when they win the ball. Not sprinting speed in a straight line of certain players.

i'm pleased with the appointment. rodgers seems like a decent guy, he has a quiet intensity that i like. i prefer him to martinez who reminds me of a small yapping dog. he obviously knows how to organise a team and has good football principles. i don't think liverpool are far off the CL at all. neither arsenal, spurs, chelsea nor man united impress me, all are easily catchable. it's a great time to be a liverpool fan.

Garcia, have you discovered Palm Wine?

What are you hearing about the director of football role?

Rory Smith just tweeted something about a "collective" that will be put together over time.

I think Swansea move the ball around quite quickly.
Britton and Allen provide excellent support play creating traingles and an outlet to whoever has the ball alowing them to switch play and move the ball quickly with short passing to wherever the opposition is weakest.
They only get direct or start to run with the ball in the opposition final third where Sinclair and Dyer have the liscense to improvise.
This tactic has seen off most prem teams and they gave the slick looking Spurs a footballing lesson at xmas where even the likes of Modric spent most of the game chasing shadows.

ursus arctos wrote:


Phil Nose Hou's the man.

It may surprise many to learn that between January 2011 and January 2012 Liverpool earned 67 points from 38 games. Then they beat Man City in the League Cup semis, and Man United in the FA Cup, and for some reason the wheels came off.

But the form they showed in that calendar year was clearly Champions League qualifying standard - Arsenal finished 3rd with 70 points from 38 games this year, after all. The way some are talking you'd think there was no chance of simply getting back to how they were six months ago, which must be nonsense.

(Edit - 67 not 69, my fag packet maths corrected by TAB below)

King Kenny's Return From Elba
P19 W10 D3 L 6 F36 A20 P 33
Liverpool before the wheels came off
P19 W 9 D7 L 3 F24 A15 p 34
Liverpool after the wheels came off.
P19 W 5 D3 L11 F23 A25 P 18

Not Quite enough to get you champions league football rogin. I'd be interested to see how liverpool managed to shed 33% of their goals over the course of the summer.

67 not 69 from those 38 games, was it, me and my maths. Even so, as you say, while "not quite" enough for CL football (couple of points off), it still looks a hell of a lot better than saying we were 17 points out of those places at the end of the season. And certainly a fuck of a lot better than extrapolating those most recent 18 points over a full season and wondering where that would leave Liverpool in the table.

Scoring those "missing" goals every other game again would certainly make the immediate difference.

Tactical Genius wrote:


Their results tailed off over (about) the last third of the season. I think second team around the league they were beginning to be found out a bit.

So what's the deal with Roberto Martinez? Every year he looks like he's moving on to bigger and better things, before Whelan somehow manages to persuade him to commit to Wigan for another year.

"Right Dave, that's me desk cleared, I'll be on me way then."

"So that's it then is it? Your off, are you? And after all I've done for you."

"You do this every time, you rotten old git. Every time I get the chance to move on to something more glamorous you try and make me feel guilty and persuade me to stay. Well it's not going to work this time, I'm going, and that's that."

"You ungrateful little sod. How long do you think you'll last at Liverpool anyway? They don't want you there. You ain't like them. You belong 'ere."

"I can do it. I'm not going to stay in Wigan all me life, trying to scratch a living making teams out of all the rubbish nobody else wants. Just cos you wasted you whole life here doesn't mean I have to. I want to see the bright lights and the big cities. This is my chance to shine and I'm not going to let you ruin it. It was exactly the same last year when I wanted to go to Villa. Well it's not going to happen this time."

"But Roberto, what am I going to do if your not 'ere? I can't run it all by meself. Who's going to feed Figueroa and muck 'im out. I'm too old for all that now. I need you, Roberto. If I'm left 'ere on me own it'll finish me off."

"You miserable filthy old git. You can't let me go, can you? Whenever I get a chance to improve myself, you pull me back down again."

"Just one more year Roberto, you belong 'ere. You don't belong on Merseyside or in Birmingham or posh places like that. Stay 'ere for one more season."

"Oh Gawd, you've done it again, haven't you? Alright then, I'll stay here for one more season, but that's all."

"You're a good lad, Harold...I mean Roberto. Put that stuff back in the office and go and buy yourself a cheap South American player. You won't regret it."

Dah dah da da dah, dah dah da da dah, dah dah da da dah, da dah dah. Dah dah da da dah, dah dah da da dah, da dah dah dah, da da da dah.

Haha, brilliant

Scoring those "missing" goals every other game again would certainly make the immediate difference.

God yeah. what really killed liverpool last season was that they failed to score in about a third of their league games (13), and scored one just under another third. (11) games. They won only one of those 24 games, drew 10 and lost 13.

it's simply ridiculous. It simply can't happen again. You have to think that even a reversion to the mean is going to make any new manager look like a genius.